http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZs3H7UGUC8&feature=related
Jean is my new hero 
JVV: “This is the wrong tee box - the mens tee box is on the back there”
Caddiemaster: “Really - this is the tee that was played during the open”
JVV: “Which Open? When Ben Hogan won???”
Dude where’s the end??? It stopped when he was trying to pitch it lefty… I NEED to see the end of that like a junkie needs a hit just for the music alone, omg…
Thank you I can go on with my day now.
i dont know whats better - the actual 18th hole or these putter replays. both are fantastic.
That tournament was tragic, IMO. I reckon that is golf. But it hurts to watch.
Here’s a partial list of other folks that had some bad experiences at majors. I wish these guys had won. Probably left some out.
Tom Watson
Greg Norman
Scott Hoch
Doug Sanders
Roberto De Vicenzo
Kenny Perry
youtube.com/watch?v=bmonRzMxjsU&NR=1
I just love this interview with Jean. I completely agree with him, and I also think he played the hole correctly. He had been driving the ball well, and no reason not to pull driver. If you are going to choke, you can choke with a five iron off the tee also. You could shank a 5 iron… then what? His second shot right into the stands would normally offer a free drop on the green side of the hazard. Horrifically bad break that it hit the stands and kicked backwards to the other side into deep grass. From there his just tried to play it as anyone would. The fact he got up and down for a 7 showed remarkable courage.
No doubt he has the whole thing in proper perspective, and I agree, he lost nothing. He did gain an important entry into golf history that will not likely be forgotten… nor will his name. He has handled it great, and I applaud him for that.
I do not agree that Jean handled the decision making correctly. If you give something bad a chance to happen… it will, at some stage.
He should have taken the unlucky ricochet out of the equation, backed his skill as a professional golfer to hit two wedges and then two putt to win by 2 shots. Not glamorous but he would have the Open trophy rather than a hard luck story…even Tiger in his pomp did that at Doral a few years ago. That would have been the brave and correct choice.
I acknowledge that Jean was very gracious and gentlemanly however the objective was to win.
Great videos, thanks for posting. Loved the music, ‘ganna get a 4 ganna get a 4…, ganna get a 5, ganna get a 5.’
I think this is a very good point. It seems like he was chancing his arm by trying to hit it into the grandstand to get a free drop. And if that’s the case, you’ve gotta say that he got what was coming to him by hitting the pole, because that’s no way to win an Open. If he wasn’t trying to hit that shot, then it was a bad shot beyond belief which was punished- some would say deservedly. How he handled it after that is as ridiculous as it gets, and is for the history books. I do think he has been about as gracious as anyone could have been since then with how he’s embraced the whole thing. I still think his caddy has a huge amount of blame to take. Even though I’ve never been a real user of caddy advice, I’d still say that his caddy should’ve taken charge on the second shot and given him a 9 iron or something. After getting the break off the tee, surely he should’ve been realistic from there. Ironically, he probably would’ve won the thing had the drive gone in the burn.
The other thing is that Justin Leonard should’ve won it. He went for the last in 2 and hit it in the burn trying to make birdie, and ended up making a double(?) to be in the playoff. A 5 would’ve won it for him- though how was he to know what was to come. One thing is for sure, it’s not remembered as Paul Lawrie’s Open win. I often wonder how he feels about that. He won last week too. It’s a funny old game for sure.
I do root for Van De Velde whenever he’s up there, so I suppose he’s won some hearts through it all.
I personally don’t agree with getting a free drop from a grandstand. But because the rules allow this… he made that decision.
If I remember correct, there was OB long and left… so he bailed correctly based upon the rules allowing that drop.
The other thing to consider is his lie. Under pressure, I prefer to take a cut at it. Pulling out wedge and laying up to me is an unknown. If the lie was bad going in that direction, who knows… you could still catch a flyer or you could hit it heavy and still be in the junk. It’s just hard to know the exact situation with the lie, how he was feeling at the moment, and what his initial reaction was or his gut instinct. If I had a good enough lie to comfortably get it over the creek, I would do that as soon as possible. Wedging sideways, leaves the chance to choke and chunk it into the creek on the next shot. I would like to have seen how it played out if the grandstands were just part of the course, or he takes a penalty. Way too many free drops in golf for my tastes. Very against the origins of the game’s original rule. “Play Yer ball as Z lies”
Hitting a wedge from that lie should have been manageable for most competent golfers. Jean only attempted that 2 iron shot because there was a bailout grandstand (full of people) to aim at. On a links course, particularly somewhere like Carnoustie, if you are even just off the fairway, you may lose your ball or have to chop it sideways just to get it back into play so the fact that there was even a possibility for this kind of play was not only completely against the spirit of the game but also the character of links courses. This raises another question which is that tournament play may in some cases, present a course with less of the course’s intended challenges that the members face, with no ball spotters, trampled rough, free drops, grandstands, etc.
Certainly, us amateurs don’t get free drops or the option to bail out against a wall or grandstand of spectators…thats why I think his decision although perhaps not devoid of logic was a gamble …he probably gets away with it 7/10 times but as I said, he gave something bad a chance to happen, instead of taking a pragmatic and perfectly manageable option to take that risk out of the equation.
No doubt, Jean is a likeable and charismatic guy and now a very insightful commentator, maybe in the long run, what happened may have been for the better long term.
aiguille wrote:
In regards to taking chances, I used to hear a teacher say…"I don’t ever want to hear one of you say ‘we got away with it,’ do what you KNOW will work. "
On that second shot and from the discussion he has with his caddy, I don’t hear any talk about the OB left and grandstand on the right for a free drop. They talk about distance to carry water, disctance to flag,and aiming left of the big clock. He just said he hit driver cause he knows he can hit the fairway 300yds…so why would he think about free drop now. he just went right at it.
He wanted to win with style that’s all… Be flamboyant. For some people winning with style is as important as the win itself. Simply an ego issue in my opinion.
Now when he says I haven’t lost anything, obvisouly as a professional golf player who makes a life competing, he has to say that and hide his weaknesses…not beating himself up…but how can he say he hasn’t lost anything. I mean , to reach that level, he’s been living for golf all those years, hitting millions of balls by itself… what drives you is such a selfish path has to be the need of recognition, the unbearable pain of finishing second , and not only the love of the game… so he won’t make me believe he hasn’t lose anything . You don’t reach the top with that kind of wisdom, that rational way of thinking.
I think he is suggesting that to lose something, you first have to possess it first. Before the week started he did not have the Claret Jug, and after the event was over he did not the Claret Jug. Nothing lost.
Pagent winners often “lose” something after they are found to a have broken the competition ethics or guidelines after they were presented with the crown.
I think he only gained from the experience. He gained a lot of attention, a historical footnote of enduring interest, and he gained a nice check for his play.